The children of darkness
by Narsha
Summary: The Mooneye plan is a succèss. The world populztion is divided in the prisonners of theillusion and the survivors that survives and attemps to save their relatives from the greatest Genjutsu ever casted. Oneshot collection with various characters.
1. Scarlet Sky

The boy speeds up. He dragged on too much. Fast. Faster! The sun burns up the sky, trying desperately with his light fingers to hang on tree and mountain top. He rushes and fixes his glare on the ground. Rule 2: Never look at the sky. Rule 6: No return authorized after dusk. Soon he will be locked outside the cave. Forever.

His bag of supplies is valuable. His life is more. He can't expose himself more. He jettisons his load and buries it under a root. He takes care to memorize this place. He'll be back tomorrow. Light as a feather, his body moves more easily. He almost trips every step he makes is his hurry stained with panic. His surroundings darken cruelly.

Shadows are dying red.

Konohamaru spits a swearword when his long scarf gets caught in brambles and strangles him. Forced to stop, he violently tears up the cloth and leave it there. Rags hang on his neck. A big kick of the heel and he is in the running again. The cave's entrance is near.

Suddenly, a noise alarms him and a cold sweat runs on his back. He's been followed! And that's a very bad omen. As he feared being shut outside the hide he got careless. He left to many traces. A bark near him speeds up his heart. He's done!

The stone peak appears between the scrubs. He forces on his tired legs and almost tears his muscles. In his run-up he crashes on the roc. They've already closed everything down.

A teenager howls in despair at the maroon moon.

Too late to go to the hideout. He must keep his pursuers away from the northern entry. His fist hits the stone as he restrains a sob. He tries to keep hope and sanity. But how can one's do it when he is almost certain of his own end?

He covers his eyes with what remains of his foulard. He can only see the ground. The Genjutsu casted on the moon lovers and those who cross eyes with a Sharingan won't affect him. He just has to deal with the trained dogs and their keepers. The insects that stayed late in winter didn't make any sound. A noxious and heavy silence invades the plain.

His heartbeats and the sound of his steps on the frozen grass fill his ears. He is waiting for the enemy. If the cavern is under attack, the end of the fight was uncertain; but always macabre. The poor devils trapped in the Juubi's illusion will never know whose blood flowed on their hands. The young Sarutobi restrains a shiver. He doesn't know if he's frozen or frightened.

The breath of the dogs and their barks are getting closer. Brief orders are shouted. He doesn't get them. In the silence, Konohamaru prayed for his grandfather and his uncle who've gone too soon. A blade is send in his stomach and he ignores it. A weighty shaggy body strikes his right arm. He is disadvantaged by his blindfold. He frees his member from the drooling muzzle. Blood runs on his fingers, getting melted with the one that spurts from the chest he's opening up. He jumps to avoid another animal and a smoke cloud flies from his mouth. When his teeth slam, ashes set ablaze drying his moist eyes. A flashing light appears in the night. The men and beasts screams get mixed up when they burned. His left ankle sinisterly cracks as he sets foot on the ground. He do not have time to complain.

Limping, one hand squeezing his stomach wound and the blade inside, he escapes again. The cloth over his eyes slips and fell on the ground. Too late to stop. He must go. The edge of the forest it provides a thin barrier between his eyes and the scarlet sky. He throws himself into a hollow shaft and seals the entrance with a Doton Jutsu. A mud wall isolates him from the outside world. Nights are long in winter, and cold. In the moist air which rarefies, he rubs his hands to warm up. The bite is more severe than expected, it is probably infected. His outfit gets gradually soaked with blood. His head is heavy and spins because of anemia. In the alcove of darkness, he waits for the return of the sun in prayer.

Someone tries to enter. Several unknown no doubt, but the hard earth resisted. For how long? The ground beneath it is sticky with blood and humus mixed. He ignores what is going to finish him off first: bleeding or enemies stationed outside. He hopes they would leave at dawn.

He squints when light floods in his shelter. A hand reaches him to him in the red rays. Were they those of the maroon moon or the saving aurora? He doesn't know who the arm that pulled outside by the collar belongs to. He no longer had the strength to resist his destiny. He only remembers the red eyes of the stranger…

Rule 1: Never look a holder of the Sharingan in his eyes.


	2. Mental melancholy

The man pushed briefly the toggle switch. The button chatted in the silence of the cave, without causing more than a vague sizzling of the neon hanging from the ceiling. He sighed; these installations should clearly be replaced. The only problem was supplies never come. They didn't know who trust in this world.

No one could guess who was trapped in the Eternal Tsukoyomi at a glance. Well yeah, everyone knew from the horse's mouth the ones who walked at night were doomed to the Sharingan's illusion. Or at least the probability they kept their sanity was very compromised. Apart from a few elite agents able to keep their eyes away from the lava lamp of the night, anyone out after moonrise was left with no option but to be locked outside the community by his own imprudence. Accidents were frequent at the beginning. Now they knew.

Yamanaka Inoichi ran a hand over his face marked with age wrinkles. He had long lost the flowing track time. But life went on in the cavern. A new generation grew up in these gloomy tunnels. The children of darkness. The ones that would never taste the pleasure of a romantic walk under the moonlight. The ones that would never enjoy a midnight bath in the white wide eye's reflection. The ones that would live in fear of dusk falls

The Intelligence Chief shook his head and dropped a nervous laugh that bounced against the stone walls. The echo of his despair in his solitude plunged him in the happy days' melancholy again. He was on the verge of crying. The image of Ibiki's smirk came to his mind.

"My old friend, what would you think of the nostalgic old fart I have become?" he muttered while installing the room for the _guest of honor_ she would receive today.

Yeah, Ibiki would have jerked him around. Except that… He would never have the occasion to see his scared mug again. Was he captive from the fantastic world of Uchiha Obito and Madara? Or was he gloating over them six feet under? He had no idea.

No one ever had. The scarlet sky swallowed people one day and they never came back.

Inoichi squeezed his fists with rage. There was no time for that. He still had work to do.

During his absence, guys had already taken the prisoner in the room. Soon they were making him kneel in the small container. The head of the Yamanaka clan glanced at the device with a disillusioned look on his face. And he was expected to accomplish miracles with that recycling equipment. From these panels tied with three bits of strings were the machines of Konoha reproduced. Badly. And he sould be content.

How long? He had no idea. As if this world had a tendency to make him growing old prematurely. Damn that scarlet sky!

His assistants were already in place, behind their cranky desk. The pipes were pulsing to the body of the teenager they will interrogate today. A free space, someone was missing. Who? He didn't know because of the turnover and the wandering mind of his, he tended to mix them up. A sign of his hand and the missing person was replaced. He crossed his daughter's blue eyes. Of course she would take her chance to interfere in this questioning. He didn't know if he should worry about her bloodless face or that strange light burning in her blue iris. He sighed. If she was here, no doubt about the identity of the nurse who would handle the health of their prisoner. He saw a pink pigtail and green eyes under the medical uniform and mask.

After a last sigh, he forced himself to chased his thoughts out of his mind until it went entirely blank. Nothing must interfere with his actual mission. With his eyes he checked his helps were ready. Then he put his hands on the boy's head.

His name was Uchiha Sasuke.

They found themselves in front of the guy's mind, represented by a brain in activity and scrolls simulating the storage areas. Each person put a hand on a scroll that started to open more or less quickly depending on the dexterity of the operator. They must find the minor hint about Madara. But also finding if it was possible to save the young Uchiha, and in extension to use him in the war that opposed the world to his elders.

Then started the lent work of the dissection of Uchiha Sasuke's life.

Afterwards, Inoichi found something intriguing. It wasn't a proper memory. Rather something that was still going on for the youngster. What he saw shocked him the deepest of himself, reviving his inner wounds. A salted taste rolled on his tongue, and a smile floated on his lips. He was aware that his situation was abnormal. He wasn't even certain what he was doing made sense. He had only needed an image, an only vision to understand.

The moon eye was in him. Forever

"Hey Ibiki. Long time no see…"


End file.
